Book Suggestions : Classic Literature: Francois-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778) aka Voltaire

Francois-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778), who later took the name of Voltaire, was once hailed as “the wittiest writer in an age of great wits”, and Candide (or Optimism) was considered “his wittiest novel”. The topic he chose to exercise his wit upon in this novel was the problem of human suffering.


Candide (or Optimism) was written in 1758. At that time, Voltaire was 64 years old. Most consider this his most important work — representative of The Enlightenment (1650-1800). The personal suffering he had endured in his own lifetime, and his study of history convinced him that there is no such thing as Divine Providence directing all human affairs.

Francois Marie Arouet, Called Voltaire (1694-1778).

Brief Bio of Voltaire and Intro to Candide - HUBPages.com

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Interesting Link:

Long-lost letters reveal the young Voltaire | The Cotton Boll Conspiracy :  More than a dozen letters penned by French Enlightenment figure Voltaire nearly 300 years ago have been uncovered recently and are now being studied by a British professor …

volty poster by Morton91

"...Andrew Breitbart said that #politics is downstream from culture... political battles are won or lost based on the culture from which #voters derive their #values. ..."
Classical Liberalism: How Small #Government Can Regain Its Voice - @AmericanThinker https://t.co/qAshEtaZ7q pic.twitter.com/S2G7O5vlJR

— Treathyl Fox (aka cmoneyspinner) ~ #Freelancer (@cmoneyspinner) June 8, 2024

The best way to start on Enlightenment #philosophy https://t.co/9WfCF0rbTI #continuingeducation pic.twitter.com/iowUwJVFvM

— Treathyl Fox (aka cmoneyspinner) ~ #Freelancer (@cmoneyspinner) June 8, 2024

"Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, and Hume all made their mark. The Dream of Enlightenment tells their story, and that of the birth of modern #philosophy."
**The Dream of Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Philosophy https://t.co/JxeyTVjEYo via @amazon @audible_com

— Treathyl Fox (aka cmoneyspinner) ~ #Freelancer (@cmoneyspinner) June 8, 2024

"...this landmark study of early Western thought now appears in a new edition with expanded coverage of the Middle Ages" ... The Dream of Reason, New Ed.: A #History of Western #Philosophy from the #Greeks to the #Renaissance https://t.co/zCJ6uKhz5X via @amazon @audible_com pic.twitter.com/JGUunom7d1

— Treathyl Fox (aka cmoneyspinner) ~ #Freelancer (@cmoneyspinner) June 8, 2024

Prezi. “Enlightenment Philosophers: Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau.” YouTube Video. YouTube, August 12, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3d609dAxMg. ‌

Women in Science : Give Credit When Due

Celebrating Women's History Month.


There's a scripture that says we should "give credit where credit is due, and give honor to whom honor is due".  Don't know why, but it's easy to laud this principle and very difficult to apply it to real life situations. Anyway ... I don't think any of these women are bitter.  They probably consider that they were blessed to have the avenues and opportunities to use their talents and gifts for the greater good.  Women are like that.  Yeah they are!

Ever heard of any of these women? I hadn't until I came across these interesting BIO snapshots. 

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- Lise Meitner, Physicist

- Émilie du Châtelet, Mathematician

- Julia Morgan, Architect

- Rosalind Franklin, Biophysicist

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Interesting tidbit:

• Emilie du Chatelet was named Gabrielle-Emilie; however, friends in her circle which included Voltaire {Francois-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778), who later took the name of Voltaire} dropped Gabrielle and just called her Emilie. Her husband's name was the Marquis du Chastellet. But because Voltaire called her du Chatelet, everyone else did too!  [Click the embedded link her name above to read more.]

Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil du Chatelet (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Related articles

• Women's History Month: Exploring the role of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)(blogher.com)

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• Historic photos of female scientists at work(boingboing.net)

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• UNESCO awards Israeli biologist prestigious prize, but neglects promised update of 2010 Science Report(timesofisrael.com)

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• Women scientists shafted on research prizes - USA TODAY(content.usatoday.com)

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 Lise Meitner around 1900 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rosalind Franklin used X-ray crystallography

 to help visualize the structure of DNA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Julia Morgan; localwiki.org